Competitive Reward Checking & CD Rates at Consumers Credit Union - Easy Membership

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It has been a while since I posted on Consumers Credit Union. They used to have a very nice reward checking account, but this account became less attractive when they reduced the balance cap from $25K to $10K. However, the top rate remains competitive at 4.09% APY as of 12/19/2010.

In previous years, they also used to offer some very competitive CD specials. They still offer these CD specials, but only one is now noteworthy. That's the 59-month CD and IRA CD special which has a 2.75% APY for a $100K minimum and 2.50% APY for the a $250 minimum. These rates are listed in the credit union's certificates rates table as of 12/19/2010.

As a comparison to other 5-year CDs on 12/19/2010, you can get a little higher rate at Melrose Credit Union which has a 2.93% APY on a 5-year CD.

One advantage at Consumers Credit Union is a smaller early withdrawal penalty than average. According to Consumers's CD disclosure, the early withdrawal penalty for terms over 1 year is 120 days of dividends.

Refer a Friend Bonus

The credit union currently is offering a nice refer-a-friend bonus. Both you and the person being referred will get $50 if the new member opens the reward checking account and meets the monthly requirements for the first full two months.

Membership

The credit union continues to make it easy for anyone to join. According to its membership page:

Membership follows a simple, two-step process: Pay a one-time, non-refundable $5 fee to our sponsor, the Consumers Cooperative Association, and then deposit and maintain a minimum $5 in your Membership Share/Savings Account.

There's an online application that's provided by Andera. It appears to allow you to apply for both the association membership and the credit union membership at the same time. You can also select the accounts that you want to open and fund the accounts with an ACH transfer from a checking or savings account. When you select the accounts, a pop-up states that the maximum amount that you can fund an account using a checking or savings account is $205,000.

Update 12/21/2010: Multiple readers have mentioned that they were rejected in the application process. Here's a comment from one reader:

They are declining people who have a large number of inquires with ChexSystems and since they pull your funds right away (before a determination is made) and you have to wait 10 business days to get your funds returned. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

Credit Union Overview

Branches are located in the Illinois cities of Waukegan, Mundelein, Round Lake Beach, Gurnee and Volo.

The credit union has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 3 out of 5 with a Texas Ratio of 20.65% (above average) based on September 2010 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Consumers Credit Union for more details. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 68588).

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